1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to floating carriers for transporting land based recreational vehicles on a body of water, and more particularly, to a fresh water supply and waste water retention system for said carrier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The floating vehicle carrier described in an allowed patent application entitled "Method and Apparatus for Temporarily Converting Campers and the Like to Water-Based Units", Ser. No. 587,244, which is hereby incorporated by reference, includes a first storage tank for storing a supply of fresh water and a second storage tank for receiving and storing waste water from the land based recreational vehicle which is secured to the upper surface of the carrier's deck. Each of these two storage tanks is located beneath the carrier's deck and above the surface of the water. The fresh water storage container is longitudinally aligned with the waste water storage container, but located behind the waste water storage container.
During the process of initially mating the recreational vehicle with the carrier, great care is taken to assure that the center of gravity of the carrier/vehicle combination will assure a predetermined bow high carrier planing angle to minimize the drag of the carrier's pontoons as they travel through the water. This minimization of hydrodynamic drag increases the carrier's maximum velocity and minimizes engine fuel consumption.
An adjustable hitch tree is coupled between the deck of the carrier and the tongue of the recreational vehicle to assure that the interior of the vehicle is in a precisely level position with the desired nose high carrier planing angle. This insures that natural gas powered refrigerators frequently incorporated within recreational vehicles are aligned within the requisite one to two degrees with the horizontal plane. This positioning is critical since these refrigerators cease operation when improperly levelled.
After the initial positioning of the vehicle upon the carrier, an employee of the carrier takes the carrier on a test hop to ensure that the desired bow up planing angle has been obtained.
After sufficient fresh water is drawn from the carrier's fresh water container and transferred into its waste water container, there will be a noticeable shift in the center of gravity of the carrier/vehicle combination if the relative distance between the fresh water and waste water tanks is great along the longitudinal axis of the carrier. A forward center of gravity shift can easily produce a substantial lowering of the bow below the desired bow high planing angle, causing plowing of the bow through the water, increased hydrodynamic drag, a decreased maximum obtainable carrier velocity, and a substantial increase in fuel consumption per mile traveled through the water. Furthermore, substantial difficulties are often encountered with the operation of gas powered refrigerators due to the resulting deviation of the vehicle from its previously level orientation. A rear center of gravity shift can affect the operation of gas powered refrigerators contained in the vehicle or camper.
This highly undesirable shift in the center of gravity often occurs prior to the time when the user desires to return the carrier, but the various problems arising from the center of gravity shift often require the user to return the carrier to the operator for readjustment. The return trip necessitated by the center of gravity shift irritates users since they are inconvenienced and a portion of their highly valued vacation time is wasted. The carrier operator's overhead is also increased by the time which his employees must spend to readjust the center of gravity of the carrier/vehicle combination.
Various prior art carrier systems have been devised to transport land based recreational vehicles on a body of water. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose various carrier embodiments: 3,731,644 (Bradt); 3,745,954 (Louet); 3,807,338 (Shader); 3,265,025 (Haigh); 3,673,622 (Allen); 3,657,751 (Shaw); and 3,335,437(Judkins).
A careful study of each of the above-mentioned patents reveals that only the Bradt patent even addresses the problem of providing a supplementary source of fresh water for the recreational vehicle. As a waste water storage container for water craft on lakes and rivers is now generally required by law to prevent contamination of the body of water by waste water, some system must be provided for the carrier under discussion to accomplish this purpose.
The disadvantage created by positioning a single fresh water supply tank and a single waste water storage tank along the centerline of a floating carrier have previously been discussed. Of the prior art cited above, only the Bradt patent discloses a means for storing waste water discharged from the recreational vehicle. As can be noted, however, the Bradt waste water storage container is disposed in a single pontoon such that over a period of time discharge of water from the recreational vehicle into the waste water storage container will result in a substantial lateral shift of the carrier's center of gravity. This lateral shift in the carrier's center of gravity will cause increased drag from that pontoon which will lead to directional instability, handling difficulties and occupant discomfort since the carrier will list to one side. Unless Bradt's storage container is precisly aligned with the longitudinal position of the carrier/vehicle combination, filling the storage container with waste water will also shift the center of gravity either fore or aft, which could produce additional undesirable results.
Bradt provides a supply of fresh water by including cans containing fresh water which can be situated on and moved about the deck or stored in recesses within a pontoon. In order to maintain a balanced center of gravity, the operator of the Bradt carrier must periodically reposition the cans of fresh water. After the water in the fresh water containers has been exhausted, all of the resulting waste water will have been transfered to the waste water holding tank located within one of the pontoons. His system, therefore, tends to maximize the carrier imbalance with the passage of time.
Louet provides a plurality of water ballast tanks at the four corners of his barge in order to shift the center of gravity of the barge to facilitate loading of the recreational vehicle on the barge at a dock. His system is in no way related to the storage of a supply of fresh water or to receiving and storing waste water.
None of the other cited patents provide a fresh water supply or a storage container for waste water.